Thursday, January 28, 2010

Tuesday night our little family went over to our friends house for dinner. Our friends, Zack and Bragan have a little girl named Grier who is almost exactly the same age as my girls.

We sat down for dinner and of course the girls got done quickly in anticipation of playing again, so they went to the playroom while the adults talked at the table. Soon, Hannah came up to me and grabbed my hand, trying to pull me out of the chair so I would come with her.

"No Hannah, Mommy is talking to the adults. I will come play in a little bit. Go play with Leah and Grier now." I said. She looked concerned but scampered off, only to return about a minute later grabbing my hand again.

"Hannah. Mommy will come in a minute. Just wait ok?"

I figured she would give up by then, but she grabbed Zacks hand and tried to get him up out of the chair.

"Paper, Mommy! Paper!" Hannah told me. Paper? What does she mean?

"Grier grades my papers sometimes" Zack chimes in, and Hannahs concern is lost as she runs away again to go play.

A few minutes later she returns and says "Paper" again. This time I let her lead me to the playroom. The bathroom is right across from it...

There I found Leah and Grier... Toilet paper everywhere. Wet toilet paper. And they were wet too. The toilet was filled and obviously stopped up. And the two little blondes seemed quite pleased with themselves. Well, Hannah tried to tell us!

I won't go into the fact that they were trying to wipe their mouths with the wet paper either...

Hannah of course was completely dry and away from the scene. I do not believe she actually was telling on her sister and friend to get them in trouble. I think the paper being all over the ground and not being where it should be actually messed with her world and she wanted it fixed.

Later we were in the den and the girls were playing in the playroom. Hannah came out and got me again in the same manner. This time I went where she wanted me to go. I found this.

Grier had gotten into all the diapers and spread them around. Despite Grier's evil eyes, I do not think Leah was innocent in this. Hannah quickly went in and tried to put all the diapers back in the bag...

Sunday, January 17, 2010

I am always amazed at how children pick up their language. From the word usage, to the tone in their voice they really mimic what you say - and yes I have learned to be VERY careful.

But it is funny that kids pick up the same phrases. For example. Most of the time the girls say "hold you!" when they want me to pick them up. I have heard that from other kids as well.

I love how right now Hannah always makes a list of things on her agenda, and her words go up in pitch as each thing is listed... Read a bo-ok, Take a na-aap, play with play -doh. She is very matter of fact about things that will happen - even if I disagree.

The girls also always want two of anything I give them - treat oriented. But they always say "I want Bofe of dem". Both of them? How do you know I have two? Anyway, its clever.

A few days ago I was making a huge cake for a baby shower and I had the chocolate monstrosity up on the counter while the girls drooled over it. And I actually expected them to eat their dinner...

I told Leah she had to eat her Fetuccini and I heard her say "But I want that Instead!"

Instead. Thats an odd word to pick up at this age.

She also used the word "Though" properly, of course in regards to food.

I'm at work Monday and I get the following text from my nanny (Amy) at naptime:

Both girls are in big trouble with me right now.I put them down for naps and I was letting them talk and I then kept hearing them jump on their beds, so I went in to tell them to stop since I know those beds would break. Then I would hear them talk again and suddenly hear a loud boom and go check on them again.(*sidenote - that boom she heard was Leah hitting her feet on the wall but Amy didnt know that).I did that 5 times before I heard one of them yell. They had fallen behind their little princess bookshelf knocking it over and pulling the shade all the way to the ground and now it wont go back up. All the books were everywhere. All the drawers to the changing table were open and everything was out of them. I had already told them not to open those drawers so they both went to time out while I cleaned up. Then I sat in there while they went to sleep and I told them no more talking

Apparently certain things start a lot younger than I ever would have imagined. I remember being out in the hall where my sister and my bedroom met playing games, and at the slightest sound that a parent may be coming to catch us we would bolt to the beds and pretend to be asleep.

This happened the other day. I told the girls to take a nap and soon after I shut the door they start talking. At one point I heard Leah say she got sad spoon (which was placed on the changing table so I knew she had gotten up.) If you dont know what sad spoon is then dont worry about it. If you know and disagree with it, oh well, and if you know and approve than you must have toddlers too!

Anyway, I walked in there ready to fuss and as soon as that door opened Leah hightailed it to her bed and covered up. I had to laugh. Hannah however, is sitting in the middle of the floor with all her books scattered around her looking at me as if to say "what? Im not moving!".

After the 3rd or 4th time of going in there they finally took a good nap. It actually gave me a 3 hour midday break becase they played for two before finally sleeping for one.

Things were going well for a few weeks. Then the other day Amy, my nanny said she got the girls up from their nap and found baby wipes spread out all over the room. I guess she did not turn on the light, because my sister got home a little before me and found vaseline was actually all over the room.

Well, when I got home I went in the nursery to investigate. Amy had picked up the wipes, but the girls were grease monkeys. Upon further scrutiny, the rocking chair in their room was covered with vaseline, along with their bedding, the floor, the ottoman, and the walls.

"Leah! What did yall do!?" I asked"We put medicine on baby's face! It got on chair - but we clean it!" was her reply. Well that explained the baby wipes. I guess the baby's face was chapped like theirs is and vaseline was the key.

I finally found said baby, whose face was completely covered in the gooey mess. I stripped the bedding and started scrubbing the chair and walls. Not easy to get up, lemme tell you. And for the record, it took 3 separate baths to finally get the stuff out of the girls hair.

We bit the bullet and asked Santa to bring toddler beds for Christmas. We decided it was time for them to be out of the cribs (Leah was climbing out) and share a room again. The bedtime crying had not stopped and I was beginning to think it would never end. Hannah just always pitched a fit after I walked out of the room even though she was fine with going to bed. Leah we just never knew what we would get night to night. Some nights she was fine, others she screamed. What we did know was that they had started being really upset about leaving each other each night.

Because Hannahs crib had been in the playroom, which was never intended to be a bedroom, both beds went back into the nursery so there was little distraction. They got to take a nap together on their new beds Christmas day, and did finally fall asleep. I had been worried they would just get out and go cry at the door, but they didnt even try. The first night they really did great! The nightime routine seemed a little extensive but it was new so therefore ok. But the girls stayed in their beds all night and slept until 9:15am! Fantastic. Leah had even talked Hannah out of crying that night. I could hear her in there telling Hannah "No crying! We go see Mimi and Dandy tomorrow! Play with toys!" and it worked.

The next night Hannah cried a little but it was still better overall. The bedtime routine had changed and she cannot handle change. (Yes I still think she is a little OCD). So I think she struggled with the new storytime scenario, having to share Mommy with Leah and all.

The next night we were back to the screaming. Oh well. At least we didnt get any worse and they were staying in the beds...

The new big girl room - Mommy and Daddy both had a moment while breaking down the cribs. Very sad. Cant you see the real cell phones just sitting on thaat table in about 15 years? :)

Wehad a fantastic Christmas this year. It is always wonderful to have some time off to spend with family. Of course, it is a busy time as well. Despite Matt being out of town 2 weeks in December, everything finally came together. We did things a little different this year so that we could spend Christmas day at home. So Christmas Eve night we went to my parents and enjoyed a fabulous dinner and opened all their gifts. The girls got their first tricycle (which Mommy and Daddy had to put together). We waited for Santa to come by on his Firetruck, but it was relatively stormy out and somehow he skipped us. We could hear him all around us, but never saw him. We won't miss him next year!my mom has a thing for black labs - apparently so does Hannah...Coloring with NinaPlaying with the pig Nina got her

Christmas Eve when we got back home the elves had a lot of work to do, from what we heard. But finally Santa delivered their new princess toddler beds, an art easel, and a huge train table. Santa and his elves were very busy that night and very tired... I can only imagine. After Santa Came...

Christmas morning we got things started around 10, which is when the girls finally woke up. Leah was determined that Santa was not coming, but the reindeer could bring her presents. Hannah was just fine with Santa bringing her gifts. But this year was wonderful because the look of awe and excitement when they came out was just priceless. They ran first to the train table. Then they discovered their new beds and actually gave us a good 30 minutes of post Christmas morning clean up time as they laid in them. Matt and I have decided though that IF we get each other anything for Christmas next year we will open those gifts Christmas night because through the chaos of the kids I didnt even know when he was opening anything!Christmas morning video clip

Santas so good to bring Leah a new phoneDandy, I thought those were the girls' sheeps!Hannah, laying in her bed in the middle of the dining roomGirls enjoying their beds in the living roomHannah loves getting clothes for gifts! She will wear them immediately!Hannah and Baby ColinAfter Leah saw everything Santa brought, she was very happy to give him the credit which was a step in the right direction!

After naps we went to Matts parents and had dinner with Jason and Katy and the boys. Again, everyone did too much and it was a completely crazy present opening experience but great also. I really enjoyed seeing the girls this year since they actually understood the whole present thing.

Christmas night was the first night in the toddler beds, which is a whole other story. But we had a great Christmas, made all the better by the innocence and excitement from my precious little girls.